Sind Province (1936–55)

For the modern province, see Sindh.

Sindh
Province of British India (1936–47) Province of Pakistan (1947–56)
← 1936–1947 →
Flag
Location of Sindh Map of Pakistan highlighting Sindh's borders, unchanging during 1936-1955
Capital		Karachi
History
•	Renaming of Sind Division	1 April 1936
•	Province of Pakistan	14 August 1947
Area		123,080 km2 (47,521 sq mi)
Government of Sindh

Sindh
Subdivision of Pakistan
14 August 1947–14 October 1955
Flag
Capital		Hyderabad
History
•	Established	14 August 1947
•	Disestablished	14 October 1955
Area		123,080 km2 (47,521 sq mi)
Government of Sindh

Sindh was a province of British India from 1936 to 1947 and Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. Under the British, it encompassed the current territorial limits excluding the princely state of Khairpur with the capital at Karachi. After Pakistan's creation, the province lost the city of Karachi, as it became the capital of the newly created country.

Location

The province was bordered by Karachi (within The Federal Capital Territory after 1948) and the princely states of Las Bela and Kalat on the west. To the north were the provinces of Baluchistan and West Punjab. The province bordered the princely state of Bahawalpur on the northeast and it enclosed on three sides the princely state of Khairpur. The nation of India's states of Rajasthan and Gujarat bordered to the east and south. On the southwest lay the Arabian Sea, with the Sind's coastline consisting entirely of river deltas, including the Indus River Delta up to Sind's border with the city of Karachi, now the capital of modern Sindh.

History

Main article: History of Sindh

Sindh was first settled by the Indus Valley Civilization and Mohenjo-daro, as early as 7000 BC. It had Greek influence during its history after the expansion of the Macedonian Empire, and developed trade with surrounding regions. Several Sunni Muslim and Rajput kingdoms were set up there, beginning with the Rai Dynasty and ending with the Arghun dynasty. The Mughal Empire conquered Sindh under the rule of Akbar in 1509. Soon after the coming of European companies, namely the British East Indian Company, the Mughal hold on the area loosened, and Sindh became part of the Bombay Presidency in 1843. Soon, it became the Sind Province.

1936–1947

After conquest by the British in 1843 Sindh had been part of the Bombay Presidency, however on 1 April 1936 Sindh Division was separated from the Bombay Presidency and made into a province of British India.

1947–1955

The independence and passage of the resolution joining Pakistan in the Sindh Assembly, Sindh becoming part of Pakistan in 1947. The province was merged into the province of West Pakistan in 1955 under the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister Chaudhry Mohammad Ali.

Demographics

By the time of independence in 1947 Sindh had had a Muslim majority for centuries but there were significant minorities of Hindus throughout the province. In 1947 due to communal tensions and the influx of two million Muslim refugees from India many Hindus were forced to flee to India.

The refugees from India were mostly Urdu speakers, and although the official language of Sindh was Sindhi, many schools in big cities of Sindh and switched to Urdu schools.

Government

The offices of Governor of Sindh and Chief Minister of Sindh were established in 1936 when Sindh became a province. This system continued until 1955 when Sindh was dissolved.

Tenure	Governor of Sindh
1 April 1936	Province of Sindh established
1 April 1936 – 1 August 1938	Sir Lancelot Graham (first time)
1 August 1938 – 1 December 1938	Joseph Garrett (acting)
1 December 1938 – 1 April 1941	Sir Lancelot Graham (2nd time)
1 April 1941 – 15 January 1946	Sir Hugh Dow
15 January 1946 – 14 August 1947	Sir Robert Francis Mudie
14 August 1947	Independence of Pakistan
14 August 1947 – 4 October 1948	Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah
4 October 1948 – 19 November 1952	Sheikh Din Muhammad
19 November 1952 – 1 May 1953	Mian Aminuddin
1 May 1953 – 12 August 1953	George Baxandall Constantine
12 August 1953 – 23 June 1954	Habib Ibrahim Rahmatullah
23 June 1954 – 14 October 1955	Iftikhar Hussain Khan
14 October 1955	Province of Sindh dissolved

Tenure	Chief Minister of Sind	Political party
24 April 1937 – 23 March 1938	Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah	Muslim Political Party
23 March 1938 – 18 March 1940	Allah Bux Soomro (1st time)	Sind United Party
18 March 1940 – 7 March 1941	Mir Band-e-Ali Khan Talpur	Muslim League
7 March 1941 – 14 October 1942	Allah Bux Soomro (2nd time)	Sind United Party
14 October 1942 – 14 August 1947	Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah	Muslim Political Party
14 August 1947	Independence of Pakistan
14 August 1947 – 28 April 1948	Mohammad Ayub Khuhro (1st time)	Pakistan Muslim League
3 May 1948 – 4 February 1949	Pir Illahi Bakhsh	Pakistan Muslim League
18 February 1949 – 7 May 1950	Yusuf Haroon	Non-partisan
8 May 1950 – 24 March 1951	Qazi Fazlullah Ubaidullah	Non-partisan
25 March 1951 – 29 December 1951	Mohammad Ayub Khuhro (2nd time)	Pakistan Muslim League
29 December 1951 – 22 May 1953	Governor's rule
22 May 1953 – 8 November 1954	Pirzada Abdus Sattar	Pakistan Muslim League
9 November 1954 – 14 October 1955	Mohammad Ayub Khuhro (3rd time)	Pakistan Muslim League
14 October 1955	Province of Sindh dissolved

See also

• Sindh
• Khairpur
• Karachi